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Politics and Cyberspace

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Politics and Cyberspace

June 10, 2007 1:01 pmJune 10, 2007 1:01 pm

We caught up the other day with a conference about campaign politics and the Internet, where Joe Trippi took time out from baking, er, burning pies with the Edwards campaign to trace the arc of the influence of politics on cyberspace, and vice versa. A few of the e-advisers to the campaigns, namely those with the Clinton, Obama and McCain operations, also attended. They didn’t give away many trade secrets, but offered some insights into what works and what doesn’t at this stage of the election cycle.

For those of you who live and breathe in this world, much that was said at the George Washington University seminar — “The Future of Political Communications: Connecting With Young Voters” wouldn’t be very newsworthy. But for those who are novices, or simply just surfing in leisure time, a few points seemed worth sharing.

Putting things in perspective, Mr. Trippi, author of “This Revolution Will Not Be Televised’’ and formerly with the Dean campaign in 2004, observed that things on the Internet are changing so quickly that it’s hard to keep up. “You’re learning every day something you didn’t know yesterday,” he said.

The campaign of Senator John McCain in 2000 pioneered use of the web for fundraising; at the time there were very few blogs, if any. By the 2004 cycle, he said, there were 1.4 million blogs. Today? 71 million.

In 2004, the Dean camp and its followers used MeetUp to connect supporters; now, there’s MySpace, Facebook, Second Life and Eventful. Campaigns increasingly mine these social networks in an effort to connect with new voters.

And while some candidates would earlier want to get in touch with DailyKos, with its vast readership, they now also know that if they roll out a health care plan, for example, that the campaigns need to make sure those proposals find their way onto health blogs, Mr. Trippi said. Peter Daou, the Internet campaign director for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, pointed to the message boards on AARP‘s Web site, for example, as proof of another audience, or the readership of UrbanBaby.

The demographics of many sites defy the stereotypes that the Internet is used only by the young, and by tech-savvy young men. Josh Orton, deputy new media director for the campaign of Senator Barack Obama, cautioned: “It would be wrong to underestimate the hunger that people who are older than their 20’s and 30’s have for being engaged in the political process.’’

In this cycle, Mr. Trippi said the burgeoning popularity of cellphone cameras, YouTube and the use of video-on-demand provide campaigns with more tools to generate support and connections between candidates and voters. These tools, in the hands of everyday people, flip upside-down the hierarchical tradition of message-controlled political campaigns. If you’ve ever heard Mr. Trippi before, you know that he firmly believes the Internet and the way that it is used in politics puts democracy into the fingers and voices of voters, and he reiterated that at the conference. YouTube and video set a mandate for candidates to be more authentic, he asserted.

The downside, evidenced by former Senator George Allen’s “macaca’’ moment on YouTube, translates into candidates and campaign staffs being allowed very few private moments. And it underscores ways in which campaigns can no longer control the message; for example, the “1984’’ video portraying Senator Clinton as “Big Sister.’’ Mr. Daou said that video did provoke debate within the campaign about how and whether to respond. Senator Clinton dealt with it in her own way, joking that maybe viewers wouldn’t be watching her off-key singing the national anthem.

Staying on top of sites and videos not connected to the campaigns might be considered a “dangerous’’ period, in which some notorious moments will just be endlessly replayed. But Mr. Trippi predicted that the public would simply get used to these blips, laugh, toss them off and move on.

Asked whether someone like FDR could’ve become president – given that he hid his polio from the electorate – in the YouTube era, Mr. Trippi said: “You’re right, he wouldn’t have been able to hide it, and maybe he wouldn’t have been elected. The reality is, that’s the way it is. You’re not going to be able to hide who you are.’’

To combat a “macaca moment,’’ Mr. Trippi suggested, campaigns could “flood the zone’’ with their own responses. But then, he added, “We can’t get ahead of ourselves. The first thing he needed to do in a very old media way is say, ‘That was wrong. I screwed up. Let’s move on,’ and also flood the zone…

“This new thing is not some big shield that protects you like’’ Kryptonite. … “You need to take ownership.’’

What’s next? Well, some of the campaigns have already moved on from announcing their candidacies on video, among them Senator Clinton, to engaging in a back-and-forth on YouTube and elsewhere as she has done with her song contest by incorporating even some of the negative responses, Mr. Daou pointed out. The campaigns have become aware that simply putting a video out there, leaving it on a shelf to collect screendust, doesn’t cut it. Connecting and inviting responses, whether through webchats (where questions are still screened by campaigns), foster engagement.

Mr. Orton cited the Obama camp’s “my policy’’ area on the candidate’s Web site, to seek input and experiences of those writing in who offer feedback, which then wend their way into Mr. Obama’s speeches. For the campaign site overall, Mr. Orton said: “We want a lot of repeat. We want their relationship to the campaign to be durable and to expand and to be meaningful. … We also want to design and build for someone who maybe isn’t already a hardcore Barack supporter. … The most successful program is keeping all those plates spinning at once. ‘’

For the Edwards campaign, Mr. Trippi said, a little thing that has gone unnoticed has been to ask supporters to play IT-tag –- this is what one person did about poverty today and then tag another person to carry on. (Kind of like a pay-it-forward ploy, we’d add.)

To some degree, the campaigns are moving toward greater use of text-messaging, given the ubitiquousness of cellphones. Senator Clinton’s camp already jumped into that mobile marketing venture; Mr. Daou said a lot of people signed up to learn through texting the winner of her songfest. But he and the others cautioned that just because say, one campaign is using Twitter, that doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for another candidate.

Yet however much these campaigns welcome the Internet’s “wild west’’ personality, it’s still simply a gauge and a tool for typical campaign objectives. Mr. Trippi acknowledged that the money-chase is everpresent, and complimented Mr. Obama’s ability to get 100,000 donors in online contributions in the first quarter this year. (Outside the conference, Michael Falcone asked Mr. Trippi how well Mr. Edwards’s fundraising was going this quarter. He wouldn’t say, but did tout the thousands who signed up to “bake a difference’’ after his pie-making debut. )

To Mark SooHoo, deputy e-campaign director for Senator McCain’s efforts, “Politics at its core is about social networking. What we’re doing is putting a new spin on things, but really at the end of the day, the goal hasn’t changed.”

The campaigns do examine page view numbers, he added, saying that at this point in the cycle, many users hit the biography and issue points. Mr. Orton said he aims to offer supporters or viewers as many access points as possible.

All in all, though, Mr. SooHoo said his No. 1 goal is not to create another cool Web site, “but to make sure John McCain is the next president of the United States.’’

Once again we read tripe about how to connect with young voters. Young people have never, will never, and will never even think of voting. They are victims of a class system that guarantees that 85% of them will be wage slaves, divorced 3 times and die in debt to the merry tune of about 2 years pay.
They start to vote when minorities threaten their lives or jobs. If you want kids to vote forget the WORLD WIDE WEB and bring back the draft. The only time kids voted beyond 15% was in 1968. By 1972 NIxon had the lottery and walla no more kid voters.
Charles B. Tiffany
Kissimmee, Florida

Cyberspace has changed the landscape completely and that is because other news outlets have failed to keep us informed. It was in cyberspace that I discovererd Hillary is the largest recipient of largesse from the health industry. Everyone should have known and been informed of her nexus with that industry. Now we see her duplicity — thanks to the cyber world. And how amazing after sixteen years to have the cyber world inform us that Hillary failed to pass the bar in DC. We had been lead to believe she had the brains of an Einstein.

way to not mention the candidate with the hottest grassroots movement coordinated via internet – Dr. Ron Paul. He leads all candidates in YouTube subscribers, and internet searches and visits to Dr. Paul’s website have increased incredibly in just a month. He’s raised quite a large amount of money for being so ‘unknown’ according to the MSM. You can’t censor this man, it only strengthens the supporters. The best you can do is give him fair coverage – that’s the way it works in the 21st century. If you try to stomp out a good message it will spread like wildfire.

I always hear about how credible the NYT is, and until now I believed it. But the fact that you won’t cover Ron Paul, in my opinion, makes you no more credible than CNN or Fox News. The internet is the last bastion for free speech and unfettered access to information. You’re censoring a great idea, a great person and an incredible grassroots movement for liberty, justice and peace.

How can an article about the power of the internet ignore so completely Ron Paul?

Ron Paul is winning, or close to it, every single online poll available. He has won, or come very close, the televised debates that took votes. He is a tremendous presence on YouTube, with over 15,000 subscribers to his channel. he has thousands of friends on Facebook and MySpace, and is the most requested candidate on Eventful. Ron Paul is also the #1 most searhed term on Technorati.

I marched first in 68 I think in Atlanta for the Calley trial. I faced the draft and got it and enlisted and served four years in the Air Force and got my degree on the GI Bill. I voted overseas but I thought it had as much effect as peeing upwind. The first thing this country needs to do is get our young men out of the Sunni slums where they’re being slaughtered. King George is a tyrant chemically bombing innocents. We didn’t have the internet in 68. But our ethical challenge of authority against murdering four million gooks to stop communism for retail and they could put their guns down and make Bubba’s overalls got four white students murdered at Kent State. Underline white. We’ve been killing Blacks for centuries. Internet worked for Dean and he scared them so they slit his throat on a loop while Matthews and Blitzer giggled. MoveOn is an internet hit. People want change and they’re plugged in. We’re threatening white power again and Halliburton is building detention centers. Go figure?

Everyone is focused on the personalities of campaigns – what about public policies? Why are we babbling about the biographies of candidates and not the nuances of public policy? It seems like we need to stop looking for political leadership and take the reins ourselves. Fact: humans are destroying the world. Why are we not dedicating political advertising dollars to prescriptions that advocate corrective measures? The Internet is our medium, but we, the people, are the message!

Leo Castillo, Hillary is the second largest recipient. Also, she said she failed her bar exam many years ago in her book Living History so you could have gotten the scoop before it hit cyberspace. As for Einstein, he actually did horribly in school while growing up. So did Edison.

I agree with those who would like greater coverage of Dr. Paul. Even this staunch Democrat donated to his campaign and checked out every video of him on youtube.

A word to the wise for everyone. My Wife teachs over 55’s computer and internet skills on a voluntary basis, her Oldest student Molly is 82 going strong and infiniteley adapatable.

Boy, do they catch on quick. The thing I have noticed is their ability to create Cohesive online relashionships using old world skills of conversation, written communication combined with experience and wisdom. A potent mix indeed.

It is just a guess but I think one of the surprises might just be a well organised how do I put it ahh “Seniors” group using the technology to pursue their own agenda. GREY computer power so to speak driving issues like health care to the forefront.

WE could use some Wise heads and good consel in theses troubling times.

Keep an Open mind but not so open your BRAIN falls out and Always question the source, Always.

I don’t know where Mr. Tiffany gets his stats, but he’s totally wrong. Young people are more and more involved in recent elections. 3 Facts: They were the basis of the Dean Meet-up campaign; they voted in larger numbers in 2004, and provided the margin of victory e.g., for Dem’s in PA, where I live; in 2006, they were instrumental in the antiwar movement that changed the Congress. In the anti-nuclear weapons movement, they’ve helped stop the Bush plan for 10,000 new warheads, at least for now. Wake up, the times are a’changin,’ don’t get left behind! -Ed

Every single republican candidate has already had his “macaca moment.” It’s called being a member of the party of george bush. That can not be uploaded away and even people with A.D.D. ain’t gonna forget it.

Mr. Romulo – Post #13. The internet is geared for just this thing. The entrenched powers don’t like it for this very reason. Imagine for a second, how things would be with Bush/Cheney if the public didn’t know their activites. It would have been months or even years before the people would hear any information…..and that’s how they wanted it to stay. Thanks to the internet, information is flashed around the world in minutes. These governmental thugs are showcased, caught in the act so to speak, and found out for who and what they are. This has to make the old-timers like Cheney very upset. Tough luck. You do the crime, you’ll do the time.

I think it would be even worse without the internet because of the lack of MSM coverage of many events, both here and abroad. They refuse to cover Ron Paul……but you know what? That only makes Dr. Paul more interesting to people. ( Remember when your parents told you who you shouldn’t hang out with as a kid? It’s like an automatic reflex to do the
exact opposite- I never did this with my own sons, and it worked like a charm)
We are in for the battle of our lives…imagine having to fend off corrupt legislators along with their corporate pay-masters?!!! We will win if we work hard. Monitor every election, every vote in congress, every action that these guys try to slither through on a bill. Identify the worst offenders.

Know what I really think? I believe that it suits these powers who control our country to have the voters divided up as dems or repubs….and they keep stirring the pot…..meanwhile we’re all so distratced defending our liberalism vs. our conservatism, that NONE of us really see what they are up to. Devious, but clever. Wake up Americans.